Jeff Silverman, president of Silverman & Co., said he spoke to the owner of the hotel, Herbert R. Meyer, and he said Meyer wants to start construction again as soon as the fire investigation is over, likely in about two weeks.

Silverman & Co. is contracted to do the electrical work for the hotel.

Silverman said the hotel was about 70 percent finished and was expected to be done in the next two months. His company had already wired the first two floors of the hotel and was waiting for the third to be done. No electricity was running to the structure, however, he said.

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He said a new modular building serving as a construction office that was on the construction site also burned down. About 15 vehicles parked at the adjacent Casa Real hotel were destroyed in the blaze.

Silverman said workers on Monday noticed several items missing from the construction office at the site, which lead him to think the fire could have been theft-related.

El Centro fire investigators were unavailable for comment this morning.

The fire was reported shortly before midnight Sunday. It took about 30 minutes for firefighters to control and about two hours to extinguish.

Original constructions costs for the hotel were $2.5 million to $3 million. Information on insurance coverage for the structure was unavailable today.